Bubal
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Posts posted by Bubal
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matcha, thans for your answer.
I want to start by fall 2010, because I already spent this year working in order to save money and continue with my studies. I could have improved my GRE, and other parts of my application. But because of many reasons I can't wait another year. So I'm considering getting in a competitive program in the USA or otherwise, apply to a school in Europe.
(I'm from Spain and my voluntary work of 4 years has relation with the EU).
Can you give me advice about schools? I'm interested in the northeast of the country.
Btw, have you hear about Loyola University in Chicago? Is the one I have left.
Thanks
Are you trying for this coming fall? Most schools have firm deadlines in December or January. A couple of schools might have rolling deadlines, but I'm not sure of which ones.
From your list of schools you did apply to, your ambitions are high. Would you be satisfied with any school at this point, or would you rather try again for your dream schools? Perhaps it is worth taking a year off and gaining experience as well as improving those GRE scores.
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Hi everyone!
After waiting out for almost 4 months, my situation is this one: I have been rejected to a Master in Public Policy in NYU, American, Georgetown, GWU, Northeastern University, University of Chicago. And I'm still waiting for the last school Loyola University in Chicago.
So I would like to apply to 2 more schools by mid of May. Which school with a good MPP program will you recommend me? I will be happy if is between top 20 in the country. I’m more interested in Public Policy Analysis.
Thank you in advance, I really need advice.
More info about me:
This is my overall profile:
GPA 2.91 (The bachelor degree is 5 years long here) (Last 2 years 3.4)
Got minimum require TOEFL score for all schools.
GRE: 1000 in total (I know, my verbal is low
).My letters of recommendations and PS are very strong.
I've been doing voluntary work for 4 year and been travelling a lot because of that, was having lots of responsability and its related to my field. I've been working since I'm 18.
I'm working very hard in my Personal Statement. (not finish yet).
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Just received the letter saying that the Commitrree cannot recommend acceptance
. Well..., lets wait the others.
But definitely it was one of my top choice.
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hot coffe
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I'm applying to MSFS, SAIS, SIPA among others (competition's hard this year!!). I have a degree in social science and another in arabic philology (started in UCM and later transfered to UAM). I also got la caixa scholarship, so at least don't have an extra headache on funding (las applications me han traído de cabeza estos últimos meses!!). Btw, have you heard about the Fundación Rafael del Pino? I'm pretty sure they also give full-coverage scholarships!!
Good luck Sheila! Yep, the application process is an odyssey (we know how spanish bureaucracyy works
) moreover for international students (GRE preparation, asking for LoR in English, ...). I've heard about the Fundación Rafael del Pino scolarships, the deadline was the 15th of Jan. Thanks anyway!
one of my peers is from Spain, doing a History MA here in Canada.
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This is off topic.. What are some good places in Madrid to go see? My gf is studying abroad in Madrid and I'm flying out to see her at the end of month. Want to make sure I see some awesome places when I am there.
Well, there is many out here. If you are staying long enough, I will recommend you to visit Toledo or Segovia, which are close enough from Madrid for a day trip. In Madrid, must see places are Reina Sofia Museum, Prado, and Thyssen. If you are soccer fan you can visit Santiago Bernabeu. You should go to the Austrian and Borbonic part of Madrid: Puerta del Sol, Opera, Plaza Mayor and also visit the retiro (Sunday is better).
You can have some beer with tapas in La Latina, or in the area close to Plaza Santa Ana.
Gran Via is nice, Calle FUencarral is pederastrian and is nice for shopping.
Night life is plenty of it, but depends which kind of places/music you prefer.
Send me MP if you want to know something else
.i'm from madrid too!! Looking for a MA in IR.... what programs are you applying for??
Nice to hear that! Im applying to Master in Public Policy. Where are you applying? How is funding going? What's your Major? Mines is Political and Government Science, with Major in Political Analysis in Complutense.
From Madrid also, applying for Computer Science. Do you have a fellowship? La Caixa? I do have it!
Hi Pepe! I coulnt apply last year to the Caixa scholarhip because didn't have the TOEFL. I'm applyng Caja Madrid, Caja España, Beca-Prestamo Santander-ICO and Mutua Madrileña (para hijos de mutualistas que lleven mas de 20 años).
Congrats for your fellowship! Uf, I would love to have a full coverage scholarship.
Where are you applying?
Do you know more ppl is our situation?
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Hello/Hola:
Just wondering if there are Spaniards in this forum applying for a Master. Haven´t met anyone yet, and I think It would be nice to exchange experiences/ideas/wories. By the way, I live in Madrid.
Greets
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Would any of you care to share your stats? I'm still anxiously awaiting any word from GPPI...
So do I
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Hi guys! Good to hear there is more people applying, I finished my application the last day, the 15th of January. Btw, I’m an international student, I don’t know if that can be positive or not for my chances.
Lets keep in touch, so we known when they start notifying.
Crossed fingers!
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Hello, would like to know your opinion about this intro im workin in. I need a strong SoP, the deadline is tomorrow. So recommendations are more than welcome
.(need to find the translation ofthe quote)
“La vía de cada hombre es un camino hacia si mismo, el ensayo de un camino, el boceto de un sendero”(Herman Hesse). As son of an Argentinian who left his country for political reasons, I grew up in a family where politics was a real presence. This, in addition to my promiscuous interest to understand what was going on around me, to look beyond day-to-day realities resulted in that not much escaped my notice. However, in spite of my natural curiosity, when I graduated from high school I still had no idea of what I wanted to study or where I wanted to go in life. What direction towards personal growth? Study? Work?
I was decided to expand my horizons, and experiment life in another country; I took a gap year. After four months working in Madrid with Cirque du Soleil and meetings with a number of embassies where I looked into various possible countries to visit, I travelled to New Zealand where I studied English, explored the islands and gave much thought about my future. I realized, twelve thousand miles away from home, that I wanted to study Policy."
I also want to introduce some elements to exaplain part of my profile:
"It was in third year when I could choose what I wanted to study and the professors began to take us students more into account. This was when I began to really really confortable in my studies, I began to develop my critical thinking capacities and this was reflected in my scores. What I really enjoyed was my year’s specialization in Political Analysis when I was able to take subjects such as Political Psychosociology, Political Economy, etc.. with which I developed analytical and quantitative skills. My GRE dropped a little during this period when I fell ill; I hope that my other strengths will compensate for this.
In terms of your program, I am particularly interested in "
Cheers
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I wouldn't freak out until February 1st personally. Mine is incomplete too.
So do I. But I'll be done by end of this week. But I'm still struggling with the Personal Statement.
Good luck guys!
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Yesterday afternoon, I called GWU and told them about sending my transcripts, because I uploaded them but they also want me to mail them. I told them that i was not in USA and asked them if there would be some problem if the transcripts arrive after the deadline, and they told me that was not a problem if they received during January.
So everything was fine!
and I save the dhl express order.Anyway, I could reach Georgetown University (there is now one at the telephone in the admission office) so because of that I will send the transcripts by dhl express just in case...
In your case as in mine, communications is very important. So don’t hesitate to contact and explain them your situation.
Good luck!
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Thanks for your time, I appreciated it .
@Lauren35
Well right now it might be difficult being an international student because I hear that schools have to pay more to support those students and right now that is very hard for them. But about your profile, I know all of those schools require a minimum of a 3.0 GPA (and some require a 3.3) just to apply, so I'm not sure how that will affect you, and honestly your GREs are not in the range for any of the schools you have listed. They require a combined score of at least 1100 or so and most people that apply and are accepted have over a 1300. I'd recommend applying to some other places that have lower admission standards just to be safe because I don't know how far your letters of recommendation and personal statement can carry you with those scores.I didn’t know that international students are more "expensive", as you mentions. I'm applying to scholarships, but fortunately I don’t need to choose school depending on finance issues.
When you mention to applying other places, do you have some recommendations? My preferences is the northeast of the country, close to Chicago, nYC or DC, because I want to work afterwards.
@modernity
Things that might make you hopeful:Your GPA may reflect differently because of where you came from - IE Spanish schools may not have problems with grade inflation, grade harder, etc. I'm not familiar with them, but someone may be able to comment on this.
They go easier on international students on the verbal section and the AW section of the GRE.
You're an international and some of these schools really want people from other countries to reflect the schools "diversity" - if that's the case with one of them you might have a little help that way.
If you provided a paper, or your SOP was really well written this might also help offset your low V/AW.
To worry about :
Some schools (I don't know about these specifically) have known or unknown GRE/GPA cutoffs - for the GRE these are usually somewhere between 1000-1200 cumulative which your 890 will fall below, and GPA is usually 3.0 (but some go as low -or lower- as 2.75 if the candidate can prove a substantial background otherwise).
Some of those schools are quite competitive.
Overall, I would just work very hard on your SOP, and hope that your experience and LORs pull through for you.
Your post is very helpful, . About the GPA, I had a very low average during the first 2 year, but my 3rd 4th and 5th year I studies hard I my result were high, cose I spend time in voluntary work but not as much as the first two years.
Good to know they go easier on international students on the verbal section and the AW section of the GRE.
I will do my best with the Personal Statement. My PS is about my gap year, I worked and travelled. I did it because I didn’t know what to do in my life, but after that experience I had the chance to knew myself better and realize that I wanted to study Political Science.
I don’t know if coming from Spain could be a advantage, because most international students (as far as i know) come from Asia and Middle-east. Speaking Spanish and introducing European viewpoints could enrich the course. Hopefully the graduate admission may think as I do... hehe.
@necreation
The above poster made some very good points for you to consider. A strong, focused, well thought out SOP and LORs will be a necessary component for your application.I'd also add that you may be able to highlight the quality of your academics, where it is applicable. A lower than avg GPA can come as a result of various combination of course loads, classes, and circumstances. It could be two or three early semesters that were not quite as strong as others. That is something that will only be evident from a close examination of your transcripts. You mentioned work/travel since you were 18? Did this take away from your ability to study/do well in classes? Are there any classes/types of classes you did particularly well in that highlight your passion for pursuing this degree?
Having exposure to quantitative classes will also help. Did you take any challenging courses in math, economics, or statistics? If so, make sure you make this clear in your application whenever it is asked.
Finally, many schools have an optional essay for you to address concerns in you have in your application. I'd be sure to write an optional essay that thoroughly and thoughtfully describes your past academics and even possible reasons for not doing well on the GRE (ex. bad test taker). In that optional essay, you can also outline your action plan for success in their graduate program.
Very helpful post too.
It's ok if I highlight the quality of my academics in the Personal Statement? In the transcripts its pretty clear how I did improve after my second year. But maybe that is not enough... I only have a optional essay in one of the applications.
My work didn’t take me away from my ability to study, but the voluntary work yes. I participated and organized events, had to do campaigning, sometimes in dates of exam period... after second year I focus more in the studies leaving that dates only for study, because in my experience, I would say that It offered me a great chance but it affected my results. My Political Science degree does not have many economics modules/subjects, but I took the free choices ones in economics, in order to improve my knowledge. So I think that im strong in math and statistics.
Actually one of my LoRs is from one of this free choices modules, and he was very happy about my performance and he appreciated that I was the only student of political science in class. Nowadays he is the dean of the faculty, so I think that this LoR is important.
So...for finishing (sorry if the post is too long)
Mainly I have two options: 1. The one I plan from the beginning, apply to all prior deadlines so I can know if I'm in or nor by March or as very late April. In case I wasn’t accepted at any, I would have time to apply to some universities which deadlines are by May or June.
The Second option, is to apply to the late deadline, retake the GRE (I think I can improve my W and Q, but I wont have time to study vocabulary in order to improve the Verbal section, maybe I could do it better if I'm lucky with the exam and reach 400-450).
In this second case I would apply for other 2 o 3 more universities.
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And exam as GRE would make more sense in order to apply to undergraduate studies, but why to graduate studies? I can talk about the General Exam because I don’t know about the subject one. The “syllabus” of the exam is high school material, so I don’t see the point about making students who left high school few years ago to take an exam in order to get in a graduate school.
Actually, If I were American, I would have taken the exam just after finishing High School.
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I'm an international student (from Spain) who is applying for Master in Public Policy, MPA and Urban and Regional Policy.
This is my overall profile:
GPA 2.98 (The bachelor degree is 5 years long here)
Got minimum require TOEFL score for all schools.
GRE: Q 560 V 330 AW 3.0 (I know, my verbal is reaally low
) I only had 1 chance and got 3 weeks of preparation.My letters of recommendations are very strong.
I've been doing voluntary work for 4 year and been travelling a lot because of that, was having lots of responsability and its related to my field. I've been working since I'm 18.
I'm working very hard in my Personal Statement. (not finish yet).
Im applying to: Northeastern Univesity, NYU, University of Chicago, Loyola University-Chicago, American University, Georgetown and George Washington University.
Sincerely I think I have chances to get in 1 or 2 of the schools mentioned above (I have a plan B in case I don’t get accepted). I think I have more chances in Loyola and American University. But because my overall profiles is good, not my GRE and my GPA is normal, I prety sure What do you think?
Cheers
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Hello everyone,
I'm working in my personal statement (ps), but I've been working in one but not taking consideration any guidelines. So, how can I answer this questions?
Please upload an essay of two or three pages, double-spaced, describing your career goals, your interest in the ***** School, and how your education and work experience qualify you for admission. Please be specific about what impact or contribution you hope to make in the field of public service and how the **** School will support your goals.
Should I stick to what is asked? or, can I introduce some personal experience in order to let me know as a candidate?
I'm doing extra reseach about the schools because as an international student I don`t have a lot of information.
Cheers
Help please...
in Government Affairs Forum
Posted
Thanks for your time guys!
Well, I studied political science and government affairs in the most well known university in Spain (Universidad Complutense, but unfortunately has nothing tgo do with US universities) and I did most of my electives courses in the faculty of economics (one os my two references is from the economics dean, who has been teaching in the US). So I do have a strong background in quant. Actually, and as i said, my GRE result in Q is much higher than the one in Verbal section. Anyway, I know my GRE results are low, I point out in the SoP that I only had one chance and was ill during that dates.
- When i refereed that I have voluntary work experience, does not have to do with punctual activities. I was the international officer (European and worldwide) of a young association, so I traveled to many different countries in order to take active place in Seminars and Congresses that were having an impact in real politics. A part from that, I was also helping in local campaigning.
I'm also considering about applying to an MPP program in London, is only one year, 8,000-14,000 pounds, I can work after graduation. I'm still waiting out for an answer from Loyola University in Chicago ( I had a look to some reviews http://www.studentsreview.com/IL/LYU_u.html) and for me seems that paying/invest such a high amount of money in order to not been in a top school (considering my profile-> ¿ top20?) makes me think seriously about staying in Europe. Because afterwards this seems to not make an important impact in my future professional carrier. Waiting another year in order to do a master is not an option for me, I'm already 26 and I want to start my professional carrier as soon as possible.
Thanks Matcha for the link, is very useful. At the moment, I'm interested in the MPP, rather than MPA.
I'm going to do some research today and tomorrow and will post more info.
Thanks again for your comments!